Chapter 46

Chapter 46

We have announced our intention to invest in dozens of startups. But not all of them accepted the offer.

In the meantime, some have found other sources of investment, while others have been acquired by other companies.

Carlos also politely declined our offer. The reason was that they would not be able to afford the investment and investment method they wanted.

Had it been a different company, it would have withdrawn the offer at that point. Because there are many companies to invest in, even if not here.

But as much as Carlos, I thought I wanted to meet him.

Hyun-joo’s older sister sent an e-mail again saying that she has sufficient investment funds and is willing to invest, and eventually her COO contacted her and an appointment was made for a meeting.

There were two people who came to Incheon from Silicon Valley. We greeted first.

“nice to meet you. This is Carlos’ COO, Ryan Gates.”

“Nice to meet you. This is Sergei Jovanovich, CFO of Karos.”

As you can see from the fact that there is a COO (Chief Operating Officer) and CFO (Chief Financial Officer), the size of the startups we have met so far was different.

Ryan, who looked to be in his late 30s, looked very tired, perhaps because of a long flight. Seeing her skinny face that reveals her clown, she seems to have a rather sensitive personality.

Unlike Ryan, who was short and skinny, Sergei was tall and had a great body. He looks like a Russian mafia just by looking at his appearance. Or, he’s a KGB agent.

As soon as Ryan sat down, he asked.

“Who is the decision maker on the OTK Company side?”

Hyun-joo’s older sister said in an official manner.

“I have been entrusted with full power.”

“Do I need to receive a separate payment?”

“That’s right. My decision is that of OTK Company.”

Because OTK Company executives and shareholders are all gathered here.

He nodded his head as if okay.

“Then let me start with the main point. Currently, the investment required by Karos is $100 million. Is it possible?”

Taek-gyu asked me in a low voice as if surprised.

“100 million dollars? So much?”

So far, most of the amount we have invested at one time is less than 10 billion won. At most, there was no case exceeding 20 billion.

But here they asked for five times the amount.

100 million dollars is 110 billion won in Korean Won. The amount invested in one company is too large.

Hyunjoo noona said while putting on her glasses.

“If you are asking about financial capacity, it is possible.”

At those words, Ryan and Sergei looked surprised. It came once, but it seems that I did not have high expectations.

“Before that, I would like to hear from you about the company.”

“Yes.”

Sergei connected his laptop to a projector in the meeting room. And he started explaining by putting the screen on the screen.

“In the past, automobiles were machines powered by an internal combustion engine. But now we are moving towards sophisticated electronics.”

As technology advances, the industry changes. A business model that was promising in the past may not work at some point.

Kodak, which was making film cameras, was pushed to bankruptcy by digital cameras, and Nokia and Motorola, which were powerful feature phones, failed because they could not read the flow of smartphones. There are countless examples of this.

To prevent this from happening, we must constantly develop new technologies and adapt to the changing environment.

Now is the era of the 4th industrial revolution in which all industries are changing. The automobile industry is no exception to this.

So, how will cars evolve in the future?

The answer here is already given. There are currently two hot topics in this field. One is an electric vehicle and the other is an autonomous vehicle.

While electric vehicles are a hardware change that changes the power engine from an internal combustion engine to a battery, autonomous vehicles are software changes that change the subject of the vehicle from a human to a machine.

Autonomous driving can be said to be the core of future cars. For this reason, many automobile companies and IT companies have jumped into the development.

5 years ago from now.

AMZ, the largest e-commerce company in the US, invested 41 percent, Eunsung Motors of Korea 40 percent, and Itachi, a Japanese electronics company, invested 19 percent to establish the joint venture.

That company is Carlos.

It was a plan to preoccupy the autonomous vehicle market by joining forces across borders and industries.

However, about a year later, Itachi was defeated by CL Electronics in Korea in the home appliance field, and suffered a business crisis by losing to Suseong Electronics in the ambitious smartphone market.

Itachi sold all of Karos’s stake in the process of downsizing the business, and Eunsung Motors took over 10 percent of it, surpassing AMZ as the largest shareholder.

But last year, even AMZ gave up developing autonomous vehicles. In a situation where competitors are already leading the way, further investment was judged to be meaningless.

Eun Seong-cha was in trouble. The reason for the establishment of the joint venture was that synergies were expected in collaboration with IT companies.

But what to do when those companies are out of business?

It was Han Chan-young who came to the fore at this time. He was a person who proved his ability by rising to the position of managing director at a young age in his mid-30s.

The reason he was able to get promoted at a high speed in a short period of time was not because he was an outstanding talent with unimaginable abilities, but because he was the eldest son of Eunsung Motor Group Chairman Han Min-gu.

As someone said, meeting your parents is also a skill.

In any case, Chan-Young Han decided to lead the development of the future car.

As the successor who will lead the group in the future showed interest, group-level support followed. Eunsung Motors bought the shares sold by AMZ and increased its holdings to 86 percent.

In fact, Karos became a subsidiary of Eunsung Motors.

However, despite the large amount of investment, no remarkable results were produced, and shareholders began to doubt Han’s management ability.

Above all, it was difficult to find a justification to maintain the investment.

Even before the establishment of the joint venture, Eunsung Motors was already developing various technologies necessary for autonomous driving through Eunsung MD, a group affiliate, and has now reached the level of installing limited autonomous driving in mass-produced cars.

Do I need to keep investing in overlapping businesses?

In order to avoid the stigma of management failure, Chan-young Han moved to the luxury car development department where success was guaranteed, and Eunseong Motors decided to sell Karos, which is no different than Gyeryuk.

However, at this point in time, there was no place to sell properly.

IT companies such as Enplay and Guble, and automobile companies such as Daimler Group, Volkswagen Group, and Toyota Group were already developing their own autonomous vehicles, and Karos was not attractive enough to take over a large amount of money.

When the sale failed several times, Eunseong Cha took out the last resort.

It was decided to recover some of the investment by dividing and selling various patents and core technologies owned by Karos.

That way, Karos will be left with an empty shell.

Carlos’ executives and employees vehemently protested, but they could not stop the parent company’s decision.

While CEO Daryl delayed the sale of the patent, he went out on his own to find other investors.

From the perspective of the silver car, it is more beneficial to find an investor who will pay the right price rather than selling it at a low price.

Karos requested investment in global IB, private equity funds, and sovereign wealth funds.

Golden Gate also reviewed the plan, but rejected it as it was judged not to be viable for the amount of investment, and the plan flowed into me along with the plans of startups.

After hearing the explanation, Taek-gyu narrowed his eyes.

“What do you mean?”

Hyunjoo noona put down the ballpoint pen she was holding and said.

“To sum up, Eunsung Motors currently owns most of Karos’s shares, and Eunsung Motors wants to sell the shares to recover the investment. $100 million is the amount of stake sale requested by Eunsung Motors.”

Taehyung asked again.

“Come on, wait. So, if we invest 100 million dollars, you mean that goes into your pocket?”

“right.”

“What if we don’t invest?”

“Eunsung Motor will sell its patents and core technologies separately. In that case, the amount that could be saved would be less than 50 million dollars.”

At Hyeon-joo’s older sister’s words, he said it as if it were absurd.

“what? So, in the end, isn’t it only Eunseong Cha that does good things?”

“It’s like that.”

Taek-gyu looked at me and asked.

“Did you know you were such a company?”

I nodded.

“of course.”

I think I read the plan more than a hundred times. I was memorizing the percent accurately.

“Hey, this isn’t it. talk to me Come with me at once.”

Before he could hear the answer, Taek-gyu left his seat first, got up and left the meeting room.

Ryan and Sergei, who can’t understand Korean, looked puzzled at Taek-gyu’s sudden attitude.

I got up.

Hyunjoo’s older sister told the two of them.

“I will talk to you separately for a moment.”

* * *

After leaving the meeting room, we gathered in Hyun-joo’s sister’s room. Because it was a suite, the bedroom and living room were separated, and ashtrays full of butts and papers were scattered on the table.

All the shareholders of OTK Company are gathered here, so it is a shareholders’ meeting. Ellie, of course, is an exception.

The agenda is for Carlos.

Taehyung said excitedly.

“Are you crazy? What were your thoughts when you asked to meet with that company?”(Read more @ wuxiax.com)

I asked absurdly.

“Why are you so excited, nigga? Even if I get angry, I have to pay.”

Then Taehyung was confused.

“Yeah, that’s it. Anyway, they can’t. What do you do for Eunseongcha to do a good job? I never see them doing well.”

Ellie, who was listening to her, asked Hyunjoo’s sister as if she didn’t understand English.

“Are there any problems with Eunseong Cha?”

“Ask Jinhoo directly.”

Her gaze turned to me.

I asked Ellie.

“Do you know what Eunseongcha is doing?”

“Of course. It is the largest automobile manufacturer in Korea and the sixth largest automobile manufacturer in the world.”

“It’s not like that.”

Eunsung Motor Group is the second-largest carmaker in Korea.

First, there is Eunsung Car that assembles finished cars, Eunsung Steel that supplies steel, Eunsung MD that operates parts development and manufacturing and service centers, Eunseong RT that makes railroads, Glomas that handles logistics, and Renocean, an advertising and marketing company. etc.

The combined market cap of all affiliates belonging to the Eunsung Motor Group is over 150 trillion won.

Here is not the end.

There are numerous subcontractors ranging from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Although many of these are not owned by the Eunsung Group, it is not an exaggeration to say that they are actually under the Eunsung Group.

In a word, Eunsung Tea Group is a huge manufacturing kingdom centered on Eunsung tea. Although it is a global company with production bases all over the world, its sales volume is overwhelming in the Korean market.

With a market share of as much as 70 percent, it enjoys a virtually monopoly position. There is a lot to say about domestic discrimination, but if you think positively, it is a proud Korean company.

But······.

I sighed and said.

“They’re just assholes.”

Ellie was startled by the swearing that came out of her mouth.

“Yes?”

In conclusion, the reason our house went bankrupt was because of Eunseong.